Wednesday, August 20

Are you watching Mad Men? If not, I think you'd really like to be. I don't just love it because it takes place in an advertising agency (my old stomping grounds), but because its 1950's set design and wardrobe are just so much fun! Not to mention, it's got excellent, witty writing and brilliant acting. This year Mad Men was nominated for 16 Emmys, even though there's only about a million people watching; one of the lowest rated, under appreciated shows on television. I think you'll find all the costumes and sets mesmerizing, so much so you might not even notice that they chain smoke, drink whiskey at lunch and treat women with complete chauvinistic disdain. Well, you'll probably notice all of that, but it will be a fun look back, and hopefully you'll feel elated at how far we've come. Mad Men airs on the AMC Channel, of all places, but I download it on iTunes.

23 comments:

This is my favorite show by far. I'd watched the whole first season via I-Tunes (we'd missed a few episodes and then just bought the whole season). This second season is a little different, but I think they are leading up to some big things. As I recall, the first part of the first season was a bit slow as they developed the layers of the plot. I just love all the little details and how authentic everything is to the very date.

I love how the characters are evolving. The first thing I noticed about the show (what lingered anyways) is the sexism and racism. My women studies cap is always on ;) But yea, I love the clothes and sets!

I'm dating myself, but I was a teenager in the 60's. I love Mad Men - the sets, the costumes, the props, the 60's conversations and gestures. Everything is so true to life in the early 60's - the chain-smoking stay-at-home mothers, kids playing with plastic bags and mixing drinks for the guests, blatant sexism in the office. I keep looking each episode for more of these generational gems... I remember my first job when I encountered both an electric typewriter and a teletype machine. High tech! By the way, I love your blog, such wonderful design finds and you're in my favorite city in the world other than Paris.

i adore this show. the sets and outfits are such great eye candy and good writing too. love your next post about where to get the furniture look. now i just need someone to tell me where to get all of Joan's outfits - i'm in love with her style!

Hi V ! it hasn't arrived to my Irish screen yet but i have heard about it ... i work in advertising so i can't wait to get some history lesson :) how cool would have been to prepare the set for that !!! Can't wait to see it.

Yes, I love it too. I did think that the season premiere a few weeks ago was just "eh," but the past 2 weeks have been a lot juicier.

To clarify: the first season was set in '60, around the election. (They had an episode where the staff stayed late watching the results -- boy, did those young Republicans hate Kennedy!), and this season, they've jumped to early '63. All this according to an article I read in the L.A. Times Calendar.

Hee hee...to add to the timing discussion... The first season was definitely based in 1960 (I watched the "making of" and they discuss this quite a bit. The first season ended taking place at Thanksgiving of that year. The creator mentions that during the birthday party episode for the little girl they were going to have her open a "Etch a Sketch" as her gift, but realized it didn't come out until later in the summer that year so they couldn't use it as a prop since it wasn't authentic to the timing of her birthday (early summer 1960). The season 2 opener takes place in February (Valentine's Day) 1962. (Again, I'd watched the "making of" where he mentions that he wanted it to take place a little bit later and mentions that roughly a year and some months have now passed since we last saw the characters and they have evolved quite a bit (note that Peggy's child is toddling around as a roughly 15 month old might).